GAME STORYLINES
» For the third time in four years, Purdue will step outside the Big Ten in the midst of conference play to take on West Virginia in what has become one of the most physical non-conference series in college basketball over the last few seasons.

» The Boilers are 5-1 all-time against WVU; the teams last met at Mackey Arena in a battle of top-10 teams on Jan. 1, 2010, and Purdue came away with a 77-62 win behind 25 points from future consensus All-American JaJuan Johnson.

» The Boilermakers are 106-19 (.848) on Keady Court under the guidance of head coach Matt Painter.

» Coming off of a 65-56 victory at Nebraska on Wednesday, Purdue has won two in a row and five of its last seven games; a win on Saturday would match the Boilers' longest win streak of the campaign.

» Junior Terone Johnson knocked down 7-of-15 shots on his way to a game-high 18 points in Lincoln; he ranks eighth in the Big Ten in scoring with an average of 15.4 per game in league contests.

» Center A.J. Hammons is one of just two freshmen in the power six conferences, along with Kentucky's Nerlens Noel, with averages of at least 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks per game; the Gary, Ind., native leads Purdue with marks of 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, and ranks second on the team at 10.6 points per outing.

» Hammons leads the Big Ten with an average of 3.4 blocks per game in conference action, piling up 17 in five games; his ability to patrol the paint has boosted Purdue to second in the B1G in blocks per game with an average of 5.4 in league play.

» Just 17 games into his career, Hammons is already Purdue's leading active shot blocker with 34 for his career; he is currently tied with Brad Miller and JaJuan Johnson for fourth on Purdue's freshman chart for blocks.

» Purdue ranks second in the Big Ten with an average of 13.6 offensive rebounds per game (B1G games), with Hammons ranked second in the league with 3.2 offensive boards per Big Ten contest.

» The Boilers have scored 222 of their 391 points (56.8 percent) over their last six games in the painted area; for the year, Purdue is averaging 32.7 points per game in the paint and outscoring opponents by an average of 7.3 points per game on the block.

» After shooting just 27.1 percent from three-point range prior to conference play, Purdue has shot 37.7 percent from the arc in five Big Ten games; senior D.J. Byrd is firing at a rate of 44.1 percent (15-of-34) in conference action and ranks second in the league with an average of 3.0 triples per game.